New vs Cellared Tobacco

[sablebrush52]

The main thing I want to point out here is this.....Latakia blends absolutely can improve over time. I cannot tell you how many times I hear that aging Latakia blends is a waste of time, and a waste of money. Next to Virginias, Latakia blends change second most for the better.
I have SOTE, Old Ironsides, GLP blends, Murray era Dunhill, MacB Vintage Syrian and several more Latakia blends that are better now than 10-20 years ago when I cellared them...in my opinion....as far as I recall. Either way, they are FANTASTIC now.

For my personal taste, I agree. Latakia softens as it ages, losing some punch, but playing much better with the other components. It still comes down to personal taste. Some people prefer their Latakia fresh and aggressive. I prefer it aged, and only in condimental amounts after burning out on it about 8 years ago.

 

[AJL67]

I find whatever I’m in the mood for is more better.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I smoke fresh tobacco more often, but that's just because I haven't got a really large cellar.
I hope one day to be able to smoke almost exclusively aged tobaccos, because I have found that my favorites have improved dramatically with age.

Rattray's Hal o the Wynd is a favorite, and I cracked open a mason jar that was 6 years old the other day (jarred from bulk that I bought for the poster above asking about it). It is great fresh, but with 6 years it is absolutely sublime.
Same with Gawith Full Virginia Flake. It's pretty darn good fresh, but I had some that was sealed up for 13 years the other day and man o man it was fantastic.

I ordered 2 tins of the new C&D that just dropped. I'll smoke one now, and age the other for a minimum of 5 years.

I will say that there is a point where they go the other way. The problem is, there's no way to tell when without opening it.

Example, I had a bowl of McClelland Christmas Cheer 2000 this past weekend.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything special either. It was very mild and lacked any depth at all. I bet 10 years ago it would have been phenomenal.

 

[renfield]

I’ve pretty much stopped buying new stuff, I have more in the cellar than I can realistically get through in my life. As such everything I grab out of the cellar is aged, either by original intent, or just because it took that long to get around to it.

Usually it’s for the better, IMO, but sometimes a tin has passed its prime.

 

[mah2325]

I smoke fresh tobacco more often, but that's just because I haven't got a really large cellar.
I hope one day to be able to smoke almost exclusively aged tobaccos, because I have found that my favorites have improved dramatically with age.

Rattray's Hal o the Wynd is a favorite, and I cracked open a mason jar that was 6 years old the other day (jarred from bulk that I bought for the poster above asking about it). It is great fresh, but with 6 years it is absolutely sublime.
Same with Gawith Full Virginia Flake. It's pretty darn good fresh, but I had some that was sealed up for 13 years the other day and man o man it was fantastic.

I ordered 2 tins of the new C&D that just dropped. I'll smoke one now, and age the other for a minimum of 5 years.

I will say that there is a point where they go the other way. The problem is, there's no way to tell when without opening it.

Example, I had a bowl of McClelland Christmas Cheer 2000 this past weekend.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything special either. It was very mild and lacked any depth at all. I bet 10 years ago it would have been phenomenal.

Man I think that would be frustrating, open a tin after 5-10 years and meh ..

 

[DesertDan]

I’ve always bought a few tins at a time of what I want to try. I pop one and store two. The blends I normally smoke or that I know I could smoke I go deeper with.

This is what I do.

 

[zanxion]

Nowadays dad smokes only virginias and vapers, so he gave me a can of 100g McConnell Scottish Cake stored unopened since 2015. The smell was quite intense. I left a bowl of it in the open to breathe for a while before smoking it. Smoking it the taste was quite intense. I also felt it some heavier than the newer McConnell Scottish Cake from a recent 50g tin I used. Does tobacco smokes heavier by age, or is it just me?

 

[VDL_Piper]

I often try a new tin when purchasing, something I've not tried or the flavour profile sounds good and I smoke it fresh. This usually gives me clues on what it will age like and how long, once established I stock up, 10 tins at a time and I do so every two/three years or so and this builds a generous cellar of a blend and puts a reasonable gap in the tins age. To answer your question, often but they aren't always winners.

 

[judcole]

The recent c&d release is what raised this question in my mind. I was curious if people would buy some and smoke it fresh or cellar it and wait for it to age.

I think my advice is still valid. Buy a couple. Smoke one now to see if you like it. Suppose it is not your cup of tea at all? Yes, yes, tastes can change, over the years. But it still seems silly, to me, to buy a bunch of tins without trying it;
Of course, I don't suffer from FOMO the way a lot of folks seem to. I don't chase unicorns, and I don't rush off and buy lots of tins of something that I have never tried just because it is a limited release. I'm not a marketer's dream guy.

 

[Waning Embers]

Can you cellar bulk tobaccos?

90% of my cellar is bulk.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Man I think that would be frustrating, open a tin after 5-10 years and meh ..

It is, but it's also part of it.
With aging, you just never know.

There are some general things that are true most of the time.
For example, aromatics don't improve with age, at least the cavendish based ones. If anything the flavoring mellows over time. I guess that could be good or bad depending on your personal preference.
Burleys don't do much with age.
Latakia mellows over time.
Virginias are where it's at. To me (again, this is my opinion), Virginia based blends are the only ones worth aging.

Now these opinions only apply to aging to improve the tobacco. There are obviously other reasons to have a lot stowed away in the cellar. Cost is one. Tobacco is as cheap as it ever will be, and stocking up when you can afford to do so is wise.
Also favorite blends sometimes go away. I've only been smoking a pipe for 10 years and it's happened 3 times to me. First McClelland, then Orlik Dark Strong Kentucky, and now HH Old Dark Fired.
I was lucky enough to stock up on a couple of them, but I only have one tin of Dark Strong Kentucky.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

When I started exploring Virginias, years ago, I would buy two tins of a "new to me" blend - one to try, one to cellar. I've continued that practice.

I'm pretty similar in this regard. It's what I did with the new C&D release a few days ago.
If it's something I know will be sought after, I may pick up a couple extra, but I don't go overboard and order dozens of tins.
If I don't like it and it's one of those, I can always trade it for tobacco I do like and come out way ahead in most cases.

 

[Oddball]

Don't sleep on fresh production. A fresh of tin of virginia can hit in way more gooder ways than an aged one. It really depends on blend, mood, humidity, etc etc.
That being said, I always buy 2. One for now, which can sometimes turn into 5 years later, and one for later... like 5 years later. When I realize that, then I have two aged tins.. I am chaos.

 

[ThermionicScott]

I have sort of an idealized plan where I would smoke the oldest thing of each category, and then the new stuff I buy would wait its turn. In practice, some tins have gotten prized enough that I waffle perpetually on whether to open them, and sometimes I'll just want something that isn't at the front of the queue yet. Most recently, I had a hankering for a C&D Virginia, so there we go.

 

[Brad H]

Don't sleep on fresh production. A fresh of tin of virginia can hit in way more gooder ways than an aged one. It really depends on blend, mood, humidity, etc etc.
That being said, I always buy 2. One for now, which can sometimes turn into 5 years later, and one for later... like 5 years later. When I realize that, then I have two aged tins.. I am chaos.

Or 1 to trade if you don’t like it.

 

[Oddball]

There is also letting the blend breath. I have posted about this before. Fresh or old, a newly popped tin can improve substantially after a month or two in a jar. I find this is especially nice on VA/OR blends from C&D/Pease.

 

[fireground_piper]

Don't sleep on fresh production. A fresh of tin of virginia can hit in way more gooder ways than an aged one. It really depends on blend, mood, humidity, etc etc.
That being said, I always buy 2. One for now, which can sometimes turn into 5 years later, and one for later... like 5 years later. When I realize that, then I have two aged tins.. I am chaos.

Yeah, for me Savinelli 140th is kind of that way. Fresh was better than 2 year later, however 2 years later was still better than zero 140th.

 

[NookersTheCat]

For example, aromatics don't improve with age, at least the cavendish based ones. If anything the flavoring mellows over time. I guess that could be good or bad depending on your personal preference.
Burleys don't do much with age.
Latakia mellows over time.
Virginias are where it's at. To me (again, this is my opinion), Virginia based blends are the only ones worth aging.

Now these opinions only apply to aging to improve the tobacco. There are obviously other reasons to have a lot stowed away in the cellar. Cost is one. Tobacco is as cheap as it ever will be, and stocking up when you can afford to do so is wise.

Agreed. Generally my strategy is to "age" non aromatics while "holding" aromatics. Any aromatic blend (whether in jar or mylar) I try to seal as hermetically as possible while non-aro's will have headspace in the jar/bag.
Therefore allowing the aromatics to carry through time as unchanged as possible while coaxing change from the others via oxygen.

 

[theTomTom]

I'm one of those people whe feel that if I buy a container of tobacco today, it should be smokeable today.

I know it's so common to see in reviews that many blends need to be stored for 10 to 15 years before they get optimal flavor. I feel that's either a reviewer trying to create an air of self sophistication.

Or a companies advertising branch trying to tell people the company makes bad tobacco.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Yeah, for me Savinelli 140th is kind of that way. Fresh was better than 2 year later, however 2 years later was still better than zero 140th.

Hmm, maybe I should get to that one sooner rather than later...